Russia and Ukraine Agree Ceasefire in Embattled Town as Peace Talks Set for November

Reuters

] A still image taken from an undated drone video released September 12, 2026, shows a destroyed buildings in Oleshky, Kherson Region, Russian-controlled Ukraine.

Russia and Ukraine announced on Friday that they had agreed to a ceasefire in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian town of Oleshky, following mediation by US First Lady Melania Trump. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also said peace negotiators would meet next month for a fresh round of talks.

The ceasefire is due to take effect on 27 October, allowing humanitarian aid to be delivered and residents to be evacuated through designated humanitarian corridors.

Amid renewed US efforts to bring the two sides back to the negotiating table and end the four-and-a-half-year war, Zelenskyy said Ukrainian, Russian and US negotiators had agreed to hold technical-level discussions in Abu Dhabi during the first half of November.

A US official later said the three countries could hold their next round of talks within the next couple of weeks, either in Abu Dhabi or Switzerland.

Zelenskyy said he hoped the negotiations would pave the way for a meeting between the countries’ leaders.

Previous rounds of US-led talks stalled in February without making significant progress towards ending Europe’s deadliest conflict since the Second World War. Russia continues to demand that Ukraine surrender the entire eastern Donbas region, including areas not currently under Russian military control. Kyiv, however, has rejected any proposal that would require it to relinquish territory it still holds.

In Oleshky, which has been under Russian occupation since February 2022, residents have reported a worsening food crisis, raising concerns about the humanitarian situation in the town.

"Both nations agreed to temporarily stop all military action in Oleshky to allow for humanitarian aid to enter and to prepare a civilian evacuation through a designated safe passageway," the White House said in a statement.

Valery Gerasimov, chief of the Russian military’s General Staff, said in a statement published on the Defence Ministry’s Telegram channel that Russian forces would cease fire at 4am local time (0100 GMT) on 27 October to allow the humanitarian operation to begin.

Ukraine’s General Staff also issued a statement confirming that it would observe the ceasefire from the same time, pledging to “do everything possible to help Oleshky’s residents”. Kyiv said it had already used drones on two occasions to deliver food to the town.

Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, confirmed that the ceasefire would take effect on 27 October. He told Reuters that the operation would involve clearing mines from roads leading to the town, delivering food supplies and evacuating civilians.

Both sides credited US First Lady Melania Trump with playing a significant role in coordinating the agreement. She has been actively involved in efforts to secure the return of Ukrainian children taken to Russia during the war to their families.

"Oleshky is a front-line war city on the brink of disaster," she said in a statement.

"Oleshky's remaining population is comprised primarily of elderly residents who urgently need medical attention, medicine, food and clean water."

Pope Leo has held discussions with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin over the past week regarding the situation in Oleshky.

The White House said between 1,700 and 2,000 residents remained in the town, which lies across the Dnipro River from the Ukrainian-held city of Kherson. Before the war, Oleshky had a population of around 24,000.

Zelenskyy’s remarks about resuming peace negotiations followed a meeting with US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff in Norway earlier this week, followed by talks between Witkoff and Putin in St Petersburg.

Zelenskyy said on Friday that he had also spoken with Witkoff and fellow US envoy Jared Kushner. He stressed that any peace agreement would need to include robust security guarantees for Ukraine, alongside funding for a further 10 years to maintain the country’s armed forces.

"The plan is to meet in the first half of November, and as early as possible, of course," Zelenskiy told the Hudson Institute think tank via a video link. He said much would depend on Russia, noting ⁠that a similar meeting expected this month had not materialised.

Zelenskiy spoke of the importance of continued diplomatic efforts to reach a ceasefire and end the war, now in its fifth year, adding that Europe should also be involved in the talks.

Ukraine and Russia also swapped 270 servicemen each in a prisoner exchange on Friday, the Russian Defence Ministry said. Zelenskiy described the swap, the first since August, as a "very important result."

Ukraine's acting prosecutor, Anton Kovalskyi, writing on Telegram, said more than 19,000 Ukrainian civilians, including 762 children, had been killed since Russia launched its full-scale war more than four years ago.

Source: Reuters



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